
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 9, 1994                   TAG: 9405090037
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BEIRUT, LEBANON                                LENGTH: Short

LEBANON'S PRIME MINISTER CEASES DUTIES

Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, viewed as Lebanon's main hope for national reconciliation after 15 years of civil war, said Sunday he was suspending his official duties.

The move plunged Lebanon into a political crisis.

Hariri is the architect of an ambitious $10 billion plan to rebuild Lebanon from the ashes of the war.

He claimed the president and the head of parliament were hampering his efforts toward Muslim-Christian reconciliation. Hariri, President Elias Hrawi and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri each represent a different religious group in Lebanon's political balance.

Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, claimed Hrawi and Berri, who respectively lead the Maronite Catholics and Shiite Muslims, were hampering his efforts toward Muslim-Christian reconciliation and uniting against the financially powerful Sunnis.

- Associated Press

by CNB